


Amplification

by h_nb



Series: Phoebe [4]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Dogs, Fear, Panic Attacks, Phobia, Phobias, Powered OC, Whump, Whumptober 2020, injuries, mental health, powers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-18
Updated: 2020-10-18
Packaged: 2021-03-09 03:34:54
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 829
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27087955
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/h_nb/pseuds/h_nb
Series: Phoebe [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1954471
Comments: 4
Kudos: 3
Collections: Whumptober 2020





	Amplification

Phoebe sat out in her small living room, feet tucked underneath her in a criss-cross as she sipped another cup of coffee. Below her, a dog relentlessly barked, and behind her, a young woman named Wanda Polaris was trying to rest, and Phoebe sat awake in her nightmares.

Phoebe had found Wanda Polaris sitting on a park bench, blond hair tangled with dirt and leaves, nursing a black eye and some nasty gashes on her arms. She wasn't willing to talk about what happened--

_Phoebe could feel it the instant they got close to her, a sudden and intense fear of dogs sticking out strong above all else. It was so strong that it washed away any other fears the young woman might have had, filling Phoebe's mind with this nonstop, nearly overwhelming fear. Phoebe took a deep breath, trying to clear as much of it from her mind as she could, and opened her mouth to speak._

\--but she had been willing to let Phoebe take her back to the apartment, to clean out the gashes on her arms and get her a cup of coffee. Phoebe managed to clamp her mouth shut on the fear she was getting from this stranger and when Wanda asked if it would be alright for her to stay the night, Phoebe said of course, and Wanda laid down to rest. Phoebe had attempted to sleep as well, but then from the apartment below her came the sudden and persistent noise of a dog barking.

Phoebe was jerked awake before she even heard Wanda's short scream, cut off like she had forced it to silence. Phoebe turned on the lights one at a time as she left her room, walked through the hallway, and opened the spare bedroom.

"Are you alright?" Phoebe asked. Her voice was trembling, mind nearly buried by the images she was receiving in flashes, of dogs biting and snarling and barking, so very loudly, the feeling of sharp teeth tearing into flesh, the sound of a jaw snapping shut just next to her ear. It was far more difficult to tell where Phoebe's thoughts ended and these phobia-fueled flashes began,

Wanda was sitting up against the headboard, knees pulled up to her chest, trembling hands clenched in the blankets piled around her. "Make it stop," she said, her voice thick with tears. "I can't- I can't- I can't-"

Phoebe was careful not to touch anything, very aware of how her hands could easily break anything she touched. "You're afraid of- dogs," she said in a quiet, reassuring tone, barely able to get the word out through the ferocious images that flashed through her mind. "You- it's more than just- afraid-- you--"

"Cynophobia," Wanda whispered, so quietly Phoebe almost couldn't hear her. "It's what the psychiatrist called it. I'm afraid- I can't- the _dogs,_ they're s-so loud, I can't-"

"I'll try and get them to quiet their dog," Phoebe said, entire body tense as they worked to keep back how much they were affected by Wanda. "Just... try and sleep, if you can."

"I won't," Wanda bit out in a trembling voice.

"Please try," Phoebe whispered before leaving the room, keeping the light on.

She had tried to text the people who lived below her, but twenty minutes passed, then an hour, and there were a few new cracks in her phone but the dog continued to back. The slight echo that carried through the vents seemed to surround Phoebe's entire apartment, though she couldn't be certain whether that was amplified by Wanda's fear affecting her or not. And so Phoebe sat, listening to the dog bark beneath her, a cooling cup of coffee sitting on the side table.

She could hear Wanda's muffled sobs and panicked breathing from the other room, but the few times Phoebe had gone in there to try and help, everything had amplified as they got closer, ending with Wanda nearly screaming for Phoebe to leave, voice raw with terror.

As the flashes and what Phoebe assumed were memories continued to assault her senses, Phoebe inhaled and she could see, just within her grasp, how easy it would be to redirect these thoughts. To take them, pry them all from her own mind and push them outward, expelling them to the people around her.

Phoebe clenched her fists and exhaled slowly, dismissing that option before it became a tempting solution. No matter how overwhelming these thoughts became, she was going to be there for Wanda and she was not going to inflict more pain onto the people around her. Not again.

So she sipped her coffee, and she breathed in, and out. It was impossible to stop the repetitive images of those dogs, feeding in like a constant cycle of fear and anxiety. But Phoebe stayed as grounded as she could, unmoving, unwilling to give in to the options that would free her of her own pain but would hurt so many around her.


End file.
